7-year-old Steven in Zambia and the malaria net that now helps keep him safe from malaria. (Photo: 2014 Jon Warren/World Vision)

Often in the communities where World Vision works, blessings abound.

Two weeks ago, our writer Kari Costanza discovered a new blessing: Mercy, a young mother in Zambia whose village believed her possessed because she had malaria so often, her 7 year old son Steven, and their whole village no longer get malaria!

Kari also discovered that the American couple that sponsors Steven are her friends! And the greatest gift to Mercy and Steven. Read their story!

On Friday, Asumani came down with malaria. Our writer Kari Costanza is in Uganda right now and was visiting the health center when Asumani came in. She witnessed World Vision's rapid testing system for malaria at work … and how it saved Asumani's life. See what just happened!

Delfina (red shirt) and friends under the safe harbor of a mosquito net that Delfina's family received from World Vision. (Photo: 2012 Jon Warren/World Vision)

World Vision writer Kari Costanza reflects on taking sanctuary in her church's parking lot while being stuck in a snow storm last weekend, and how World Vision and our supporters are able to provide a safe harbor for millions of children around the world.

World Vision writer Kari Costanza contrasts the life of her son, Nicholas, with the life of a young man she met in Tanzania, named Nikolaus. Both college-aged, her son Nicholas is in college pursuing his dreams; Nikolaus and his family are struggling to have hope for the future.

Find out how World Vision's programs will soon offer Nikolaus that hope.

Last week, we explored World Vision's WASH programs (water, sanitation, and hygiene), including the effectiveness of these programs in promoting better health in communities.

But World Vision's work in the health sector is much wider in scope than WASH programs alone! This week, we delve deeper into our impact in a wide variety of health issues -- including child and maternal health, HIV and AIDS, and malaria.

Today is World Malaria Day! Join World Vision in remembering the lives devastated by this preventable, treatable disease -- and in our mission of eradicating it from the world.

Yesterday, part 1 of "The gossamer thread" brought you into the lives of three families who have seen malaria's tragic effects firsthand. Today's story is decidedly more hopeful: It highlights the miraculous change a few square meters of netting has brought about for another Mozambican family.

Tomorrow is World Malaria Day -- a moment to remember the lives of children, families, and communities devastated by this preventable, treatable disease that we can stop.

Today, we open a two-part series with the stories of three families in Mozambique who have been affected by malaria. Make sure you check back tomorrow to read about a family whose lives have been transformed by the simple miracle of bed nets.

The mood is somber as babies wait to be examined and receive immunizations. I meet Purity, 30, and her 2-year-old son, Sheldon, while they were waiting to be seen. Sheldon suffers from high fever, poor appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting.

We spent the morning in a village in Mozambique visiting Marita, a dear little girl whose best friend had died of malaria last year.

Marita was still grieving. She sat quietly while the rest of the children played in high spirits, shouting and laughing through a game of soccer.

Marita’s mother invited us to come back later for supper. Hospitality can never be refused, even when the givers have so little. Marita’s father makes just $48 a year in a country to which both people and nature have been unkind.

Here in the United States, when our little ones come down with common childhood illnesses, we have relatively easy access to over-the-counter medicines and supplies that can treat them and ease their suffering. Rarely, if ever, do such ailments become life-threatening.

Tragically, the opposite is often true in developing countries. Children who become ill with treatable conditions -- such as worms, diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria -- seek treatment at local clinics, but the shelves there are frequently empty. Poverty renders basic medicines and supplies unaffordable or inaccessible, and children's lives are needlessly placed at risk.

World Vision works with pharmaceutical companies and other corporate partners, who donate medications and medical supplies that we can ship and distribute to clinics around the world where they're needed most. The images below depict the problem -- and what we're doing to help solve it.

Today is World Malaria Day. One of the top killers of children globally, malaria remains a serious threat in African countries like Mozambique -- even though it's completely preventable and treatable, and even though it was eradicated here in the United States more than half a century ago.

Tom Costanza, a World Vision videographer, shares reflections from a trip to Mozambique, contrasting the elimination of malaria in the United States and its continued devastating effects, both on children and adults, in developing countries.

Uganda is one of 16 poor countries that are considered "trailblazers" for the progress they’ve made toward eliminating poverty and improving health. The nation is on track to meet at least half of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Progress is hard-won, but encouraging. Here are some accomplishments to celebrate.

World Malaria Day is coming up on April 25. This preventable, treatable disease was eradicated in the United States in the early 1950s -- but even today, it continues to devastate lives in places like Kenya, where simple interventions could end suffering for mothers like Elizabeth. Read her story below and consider how you can take action to help accomplish what was done in this country decades ago.

In the weeks leading up to World Malaria Day on April 25, we're calling attention to this deadly but preventable disease and sharing simple ways by which everyone can be involved in stopping it for good. And by "everyone," we mean exactly that -- including a 7-year-old boy from Missouri, whose unique story we hope will inspire others to take action.

A single mosquito bite can be a death sentence for people who lack access to medical treatment. What makes malaria deaths particularly tragic is that they are fully preventable -- and some of malaria’s most common victims are children under 5.